


Back Then

by panther



Series: Bad Days of War [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4529679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panther/pseuds/panther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius disappears to his room once Harry leaves for his hearing. Hermione sneaks up after him and asks about the first war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back Then

Sirius smiles and he nods and he makes Harry feel as confident as he can while also assuring him that if he worst happens he can come _home_. Putting the idea across that the dump they are in his home is difficult but Sirius tries. He probably fails but he _tries_. The minute Harry has left with Arthur silence fills the room and Sirius nervously moves from foot to foot before whipping his wand out and popping the kettle into life. He makes a pot of tea and grabs the cold toast he could not face while Harry was around and disappears to his room. Hermione catches his eye on the way out but they both know to wait a little longer. The notes he made with Hermione are still on the old dresser. He wonders if he could have done more and spent longer looking. He wonders if he should have spent more time preparing for the worst and finding words to give to Harry but he just can't seem to go in that direction. Harry is the 'boy who lived'. He cannot believe anyone would truly expel him.   
He is pondering what he would say if it went south when the door opens and Hermione slips in with a tea cup buried between her jumper covered hands. Without asking she pours herself a cup and joins him on the bed. Quietly he offers the toast he is munching on but she declines and continues with her tea. 

"The Weasleys are too loud."

"Yes...they are a boisterous bunch and then there are so many of them." Sirius says quietly. "We did all that we could."

"I know. I always want to do more though. It is in my nature." 

Sirius chuckles. "Yes, I have noticed. You got plenty of books for your birthday?"

Hermione brightens immediately. " Yes. Thank you so much for the funds. I bought books to help with the war but also things just...because."

She seems shy at the end and Sirius reaches over to pat her on the knee. "As it should be. The exchange rate to muggles is unfair. Your parents did well to provide you with what they did but it is good to read our storybooks just as our knowledge. As far as I remember the library at hogwarts is a little lacking in the story department."

"Yes. There are romances but those are not often my thing. I like the children's stories. They are very similar really."

"Lily used to say that. I think there are a few authors of muggle stories that were actually magical. You could look that up one day. I would offer to do it for you but I do not think that sort of thing will be in mother's collection somehow." Sirius says with a smile. 

"One day." Hermione says quietly, adjusting herself to fall back into the pillows. "Ron seems so laid back about this. It is like he thinks nothing can touch Harry. He thinks because Harry saw Him and lived that it must be ok."

"Ron doesn't understand politics and that is ok. No one your age should have to have to understand so deeply. Do not hold it against him. All any of you should be worrying about is trying out for the Quidditch team or maybe in your case if you will get that shiny badge hmm?"

"War was happening when you were my age. What did you do?" Hermione asks quietly. Sirius turns away, his face dark, before tapping the teapot. It shuffles along the bed and releases team once again before refilling their cups and shuffling off to the side unit again. 

"I was more involved than the others. My parents thought Voldemort had the right idea as I have said. I was under a lot of pressure. I made sure I was out of here as much as possible. James was a pureblood so while mother did not approve of his family we were related and she would rather I was with him than wandering the streets. I was too unruly to keep in here. Mr Potter was involved with the Ministry. I saw his face every time he came home. We saw the headlines. We were aware but we tried to ignore it. We were not as targeted as you were. The best we could do was live and be defiant." Sirius states quietly, turning back to Hermione slowly. "I was sixteen when they wanted me to meet him so I ran. I was lucky that my uncle had more sense but I lost everything. Nearly everything I was left went into my last two years at Hogwarts."

Hermione can't help but be captivated. She shifts her body posture to make it clear to Sirius that she is listening.

"People went missing. People died. Then the pattern about who and why started to appear. Curfews were put into place. The ministry had harder recruitment drives. People refused to call it war but we all knew. At first the deaths were the aurors and the families of muggle borns but then it was those on Dumbledore's sides and children being massacred in their beds. I dreaded breakfast...I still do. It meant official letters from the ministry. Death notices. Ron grew up with an idea of that war, Hermione. Please don't blame him if he ignores this one as long as he can. Molly...she lost her family to those notices. Let her rant. You are all strong enough to ignore her in the end."

"I don't know how to wait for Harry."

"Go do your homework , Hermione. That is all he will expect. In fact, I think it will provide him comfort of all things. "

"Are you ok here?"

He turns, touched someone asked, and smiles that smile unique to him. "I'm always fine, Hermione. I'm not in a cell anymore."

Hermione smiles and hands him her teacup. Not a cell. Just a cage. Designed by Dumbledore. Keeping Sirius. The lock held unknowing by Harry.


End file.
